SimCity to Be Just as Depressing as Real Life

The new SimCity game is the first installment in the series in almost a decade, so things are pretty different. Sure, it’s got all of the urban planning that you’ve come to love, but the inner world is way more complex and pretty amazing. Joystiq has been running a series of articles on the new game, and the most recent one shares some intense insight to what your little computer people are doing.

According to creative director Ocean Quigley (maybe not his real name), the new SimCity models the behavior of each and every one of its citizens individually – as if they were all in the game The Sims. They pay their rent, go to work and then spend the rest of their free time enjoying whatever recreational opportunities you’ve built.

If there aren’t enough jobs, they can lose their apartments and become homeless. If there’s too much traffic on the streets, fire trucks can’t get through to put out fires. They have personalities, get sick, break the law, and even listen to different kinds of music. They’re not just little dots on a graph anymore – they’re people. Like Soylent Green.